


teacher crush

by MirrorImage003



Series: zutara tumblr prompts [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: High School Teacher AU, Humor, Modern AU, Sandwiches, aang is hot for teacher, katara is a lit nerd, katara likes pickles, zuko is a history nerd, zuko is hot for teacher but slower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 12:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20358340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorImage003/pseuds/MirrorImage003
Summary: tumblr prompt: "He's pampering me, let him be."zuko's just trying to flirt with the pretty lit teacher, and this kid is really cramping his style.





	teacher crush

**Author's Note:**

> i refuse to apologize for this lmao

“Hey, I was gonna get you extra pickles since I know you like them, but the cafeteria was completely—“

Zuko stops mid-sentence in the doorway to her classroom, a few potato chips sliding off of the paper plate in his left hand onto the tiled floor.

“Oh, hi, Mr. Tanaka!”

His sun-dappled eyes narrow before he can stop himself. The bald, loud kid from his third period History class is standing on the other side of her desk smiling happily at him.

Zuko’s quick gaze takes in the pretty Literature teacher sitting calmly at her desk and the paper plate with a neat, handmade turkey sandwich already set before her. It has extra pickles.

“Hey, Zuko.” Katara smiles at him, cerulean eyes alight with amusement. “Aang here was just bringing me some lunch from the cafeteria. Isn’t that sweet?”

Zuko nearly grimaces, but he straightens from his place by the door and awkwardly fumbles with the two full plates of food in his hands (one for him and one for her), trying desperately to think of a way to hide them.

“How thoughtful.” It comes out more reproachful than he’d meant it to, but the kid is unfazed, cheeks dusting pink and absurdly large eyes fixated on Katara.

Aang smiles brightly, whipping his near-neon yellow backpack off and scrambling to open the zipper. He rummages around for a moment before triumphantly presenting a shiny, ruby-red apple from its depths. “I got you this too, Ms. Nanuq.”

_Jesus Christ_, Zuko internally groans.

Katara only smiles warmly and takes the apple from his proffered hand. “You shouldn’t have, Aang. This is quite the feast. You’re not trying to bribe me for a better grade on next week’s test, are you?”

The glare off of the kid’s perfectly shaved head nearly blinds Zuko when he shakes his head vigorously.

“Of course not, Ms. Nanuq.” He shyly fidgets with the hem of his blue and green striped shirt. “Just wanted to do something nice for my favorite teacher.”

It’s a double hit to Zuko’s pride as both the kid’s History teacher and, apparently, his contender for the pretty Literature teacher’s attention.

“Well, thank you, Aang. It’ll make grading all these papers during my lunch break much more enjoyable.” She winks and the kid nearly blinds him _again_ with the sheer wattage of his grin.

“See you Monday, Ms. Nanuq!” Aang practically vibrates with energy as he whirls around and heads towards the door. Zuko shifts a little to make room for the kid to leave. As he’s slipping out of the classroom, Aang innocently comments, “Wow, Mr. Tanaka. You must be really hungry if you’re eating _two_ lunches. See you next week!”

Zuko stares in horrified disbelief at the space the kid disappeared from.

_Aang: 1_

_Zuko: 0_

He makes a mental note to flunk the kid on his next pop quiz.

From behind him, Katara snickers. He turns to give her a half-hearted glare.

“Shut up. Isn’t it inappropriate to fraternize with a student?”

“Please. Aang is harmless.”

Zuko grunts, ambling over to set down the two plates and drag a chair towards her desk. “‘Harmless’ my ass.”

The smirk that curls her blush-pink lips somehow fills him with both intrigue and embarrassment.

“He’s pampering me, let him be.” She quirks an eyebrow at his sandwich plates. “Is one of those for me?”

She reaches over to drag one towards her, but Zuko slaps his hand on the edge of the plate and gathers it to himself.

He sniffs. “No. These are mine, thank you very much.”

Katara rolls her eyes and leans back in her chair. “Oh really?”

“Really.”

She feigns disinterest and picks up a pickle wedge from the plate the kid gave her. “Well, thank goodness for Aang, otherwise I would’ve starved this lunch break.”

Zuko kicks up one long, lean leg to rest on the edge of her neat desk, ignoring the dirty look she shoots him. He grabs the apple and raises it to the light, scrutinizing it.

“This apple is bruised. Guess Aang doesn’t think his favorite teacher deserves a crisp apple.”

She flicks a chip at him. “Oh yeah, and what did he get you, again?”

“Irrelevant.”

“You’re just jealous because I’m his favorite teacher and you’re not.”

Zuko hesitates for the briefest of seconds before he slants her a simmering look from the corner of his eyes, apple still held just in front of his face.

“That’s not why I’m jealous of him.”

And then he bites into the apple, holding her surprised gaze.

She blinks. Then swallows. Then diverts her attention to the stack of papers in front of her.

_Aang: 1_

_Zuko: 1_

He watches her grade papers for a while, silently cataloging the way her fingers move as they flip pages and mark writing errors, the way she chews lightly on the left corner of her bottom lip when she concentrates.

He finishes one whole sandwich in the time it take for her to finish half of hers.

Katara’s in the middle of scrawling down some student’s essay grade in her book when he finally works up the courage to interrupt her.

“You wanna grab a drink with me tonight?”

Her red pen stills, but she doesn’t look up at him. “I don’t know, Zuko.”

“What, so some teenage kid can pamper you but I can’t?” It comes out teasing, but he means it.

She runs her tongue over her top teeth, then sets down her pen and stares at him.

“You.” Her tone is dry, testing. “You want to pamper me?”

Zuko nearly loses his resolve under her assessing stare, but he’ll be damned if that bald kid proves to have a bigger set of balls than him.

“If you’d let me, yes.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on her desk. “Or, if you’d prefer, I could buy you a crisp, unbruised apple instead.”

She holds her indifferent expression for one more beat before a reluctantly entertained smile enlightens her sharply beautiful face.

Her eyes flick over his face down to his hands, then back up. When she reaches over to grab the apple from his plate and takes a slow bite into the juicy fruit, Zuko has to suppress a shiver.

“There’s that cop bar, across from Omashu Square. Meet me there at ten?”

_Aang: 1_

_Zuko: 1 _

_Katara: 1_

The next morning, as he groggily takes in the head of messy curls snoring softly on his bare chest, Zuko decides that he needs a new point system.


End file.
